In 1939, Robert May was 35 years old, heavily in debt and depressed about the state of his life. He had an Ivy League education and had hoped to write the Great American Novel — but was instead writing catalog copy about men's white shirts for Montgomery Ward. Then he got the assignment that changed his life. Here's the true story behind the Christmas classic, "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer."

More: Rudolph to the rescue: The triumph of an under-deer